" Perry Rhodan 0124 - (115b-116b) The Psycho Duel" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

beside him. But at the end of the hallway a man appeared in front of him. He was neither a Zalite nor a
pure line Arkonide but he moved toward Henno so casually that it bordered on recklessness. Henno
signalled to the robot and came to a stop as he drew his weapon.

The stranger was not especially tall but he was broad in the shoulders and on his angular face was what
seemed to be an expression of mockery or scorn. He was wearing an Arkonide combat suit and leisurely
carried a weapon under his arm. When he had approached to within 5 meters or so, Henno called out a
warning. "That’s far enough," he said. "Who are you?"

The stranger grinned with an almost childish frankness. He did not seem to be worried about the swiftly
approaching sounds of battle. "My name is Tate," he drawled as he looked at Henno closely. "And you
are obviously the Imperator’s representative on Zalit." Although he spoke Arkonide with a strange accent
he made no errors in the process.

Henno regarded him suspiciously. "What do you want?" he asked irritably. "Do you want to wait around
here until they shoot us?"

Tate merely smiled. "I was going to give you some help," he said, "that is—to quell this rebellion."

Henno was too surprised to speak for a moment but finally he blurted out incredulously: "You surely
don’t mean that the two of us could handle this mob?!"

Tate nodded affirmatively. "The two of us and Granny." He patted the strange weapon he was carrying.
The amazing part of it was that he actually seemed to be convinced of what he was saying.

Henno was sure that he was looking at a madman who was merely wasting his time. "Get out of my
way!" he shouted. "I’m heading to the spaceport with this robot. There’s a glider on the roof. If you have
any sense you’ll come along. Within a few hours the Fleet will be taking over here."

Tate lifted the Granny and aimed it at Henno point blank. His casual expression hardened instantly. "You
don’t understand me," he said quietly. "Not a single ship is going to land on Zalit."The dark muzzle of the
Granny seemed to stare balefully at Henno. The Arkon representative paled visibly but he still hesitated
to tell the robot to move in. "Let me explain something quickly," suggested Tate. "But don’t try anything
foolish. I can fire this before you can even blink at that tin soldier of yours."

This was no madman talking now. Never in his life had Henno seen such self-confidence in a man. "Then
speak!" he said hoarsely.

"I am a Terran agent on Zalit," Tate confessed. "Until now my job here has been merely to observe from
a safe distance and send out periodic reports."

"You are actually a Terran?!" exclaimed Henno.

The weapon wavered slightly as Tate nodded affirmatively. "The battleshipTroy and 6 light cruisers of
the Solar Fleet were on their way to Zalit escorted by 44 heavy-class robot warships of the Greater
Imperium," reported the agent.

"Theywere? " repeated Henno in amazement.
 "Now we’re on our own resources. Effective as of now I am in command here. You will soon receive
instructions from the Imperator which will explain everything."